Chapter 05

Eunjo straightened up and looked around.

The assistant system that had introduced itself as a guide. If it had roughly the same functions as NAVI, the system Won-gyu had used, then she intended to make proper use of it.

“NAVI.”

Eunjo quietly called its name.

A moment later, a blue glow appeared, and a chat window opened.

Yes, Ms. Lee Eunjo.

“Let’s talk.”

Eunjo looked for somewhere quiet to speak with the system. When she spotted a sign pointing toward a nearby park, she immediately headed in that direction.

It happened just as Juheon’s car was pulling out of Yonhui University Medical Center. They had stopped at a traffic light when he spotted Na Eunjo through the window.

Na Eunjo was a model affiliated with Hera Entertainment, a company in which MK Investment had invested.

She was also a troublemaker whose repeated scandals, both major and minor, had caused the company financial losses.

Jung So-heun, the CEO of Hera Entertainment, felt sorry for her. She insisted that the girl clearly had star potential but was simply unlucky.

However, in Juheon’s judgment, luck wasn’t the problem. The girl herself was.

She had a face that anyone would consider beautiful and a gorgeous figure. Yet her somewhat rough way of speaking and frivolous behavior frequently landed her in trouble.

And that wasn’t the only issue.

She couldn’t control her overflowing charisma.

Judging by the fact that she didn’t seem aware of it herself, that natural allure was probably something she had been born with. The problem was that plenty of people found it irritating.

Even within her own agency, opinions of Na Eunjo differed depending on whether the person judging her was a man or a woman.

She had plenty of enemies, and even more scandals.

That was also how Juheon had become entangled with a rookie model from an investment company’s portfolio.

He had met her just once, at a party celebrating the investment agreement with Hera Entertainment, and yet a scandal involving the two of them had erupted.

Two people who hadn’t even known each other’s names had suddenly become a couple supposedly on the verge of marriage. They had no choice but to meet again to resolve the situation.

“Mr. Park, Nabi naturally draws a lot of attention, so… I’ll do whatever it takes to smooth things over.”

CEO Jung So-heun tried to placate Juheon, who was sensitive about scandals.

“Na Eunjo, you should apologize to the CEO right away, too. You’re absolutely the one at fault.”

“Well, I’m sorry. I heard MK’s Park Juheon was incredibly handsome, so I just wanted to see for myself. I didn’t expect it to turn into a scandal.”

The model Nabi. Her real name was Na Eunjo.

That was the first time he had learned that her name was Na Eunjo.

Could a name really carry that much power?

Juheon, who had never given women a second glance, found himself looking directly at one for the first time. Then, despite himself, he let a remark slip.

“What a waste of a name.”

Her flippant way of speaking and rebellious gaze were unworthy of the name Eunjo. Still, the power of that name had ensured that Na Eunjo became firmly lodged in his mind.

Na Eunjo. Eunjo. Lee Eunjo.

Because of that one familiar, dearly missed name, he accepted Hera Entertainment’s apology.

“Thank you for accepting our apology so graciously. To show my gratitude, let me buy you a drink, Mr. Park.”

Perhaps the power of that name was also why he hadn’t rejected CEO Jung So-heun’s offer.

He had always repeated that name to himself in silence. Perhaps he had simply been glad to finally say it aloud.

And so, they ended up drinking together in a hotel’s sky lounge.

One glass, then another.

Strong liquor flowed, light conversation passed between them, and the atmosphere was pleasant enough.

That was the problem.

He had been so intoxicated by the name that he kept drinking the potent alcohol without stopping.

Ms. Na Eunjo.

Ms. Eunjo.

Eunjo.

Eunjo…

Drunk on the repeated sound of that name, he had eventually spent the night with Na Eunjo.

He had held her in his arms while thoroughly intoxicated, and at some point, he had begun mistaking the woman in his embrace for Eunjo.

“Ah… Eunjo.”

He called the woman beneath him, who was breathing roughly and surrendering to languid pleasure, “Eunjo” countless times.

As he looked at the woman beneath him, her body trembling as though it might break while he thrust deeply into her, the nights he had spent with Eunjo came vividly back to him, detail by detail. An instant later, a dizzying pleasure so intense it nearly drove him mad surged through him.

A woman who shared Eunjo’s name.

That had been the night he held her in his arms in Eunjo’s place.

But now, the very Na Eunjo he had embraced instead of Eunjo had appeared at her funeral?

“I knew her, too.”

How on earth do you know Eunjo?

The woman had said in a trembling voice that she knew Eunjo, and she had behaved in a way that was completely unlike her usual self.

The rough, abrasive Na Eunjo had acted like a lake stirred by nothing more than gentle ripples.

Juheon crouched on the ground, staring intently at Na Eunjo’s back as she remained huddled there, making no move to get up.

Na Eunjo, Hera’s biggest headache.

Her face was enough to captivate just about any man, and her figure was almost too beautiful for her to be working as a model.

He sometimes thought that if she would only keep her mouth shut, she would be close to the perfect female form.

But…

“I’m sorry, Mr. Park, but could you lend me some money?”

“…Money?”

“I need a settlement payment to keep a reporter quiet. You’re the only person I can turn to for money right now.”

“And if I say no?”

“Hmm. I’ll spread the word about what happened last night. Would that be all right with you?”

The little affection he had left for her vanished completely.

He even felt disgusted with himself for having considered taking responsibility for a woman like her.

In the end, Juheon had thrown money at Na Eunjo and slapped the label a woman unworthy of her name on her. Then he had tossed her into some corner of his memory.

But he had never imagined that this same Na Eunjo would know Lee Eunjo.

Just then, Gyu-o held out a tablet.

“President Park, about Na Eunjo…”

After playing a video, Gyu-o continued.

“She was at the scene of Eunjo noona’s accident. I mean, Lee Eunjo’s accident.”

He pointed to one side of the screen.

There was Na Eunjo in the video, which showed the aftermath of the accident being handled.

She was wearing a rather flashy floral dress, a gray zip-up hoodie, and a mismatched pair of sneakers. Strangely enough, she was dressed exactly as she was now.

The only difference was that her wet hair hung loose and disheveled, blowing in the wind as she…

cried.

“She was crying?”

Why?

Come to think of it, she had been crying outside the funeral hall, too.

“What kind of relationship did they really have?”

She had arrived at the accident scene before almost anyone else and was crying like that, looking completely lost and helpless.

Does that mean she knew who had jumped?

At that point, hadn’t the victim’s identity still been unknown?

Juheon’s gaze shifted back to Na Eunjo outside the window.

She had been crouching on the ground, but now she rose and hurried away.

Juheon kept his eyes fixed on her retreating figure and called out to Gyu-o.

“Kim Gyu-o.”

“Yeah?”

“Look into Na Eunjo for me. Focus especially on her connection to Lee Eunjo.”

Was there something connecting them beyond their names?

Three months ago.

She was a woman he had spent exactly one night with.

All he knew about her were her name, occupation, and age.

It would be ridiculous to suddenly become curious about her now, but he needed to know.

What exactly was her relationship with Lee Eunjo?

The being that called itself a guide really was similar to NAVI, the system Won-gyu had developed.

A guide, quite literally.

It could provide information, give directions, and offer reasonable advice based on big data.

That was about the extent of its capabilities. Of course, for the time being, that was more than enough.

“Good. Then, if I call out ‘NAVI,’ will you appear?”

I will configure it that way.

After summoning NAVI, Eunjo was able to obtain Na Eunjo’s address and other personal information.

“You said that from now on, I should live as Na Eunjo and intervene in fate, right?”

Yes.

“And if I have questions, I can ask you?”

Yes. That is correct.

Eunjo pressed her lips together at the system’s terse replies and took a moment to organize her thoughts. Then she asked the most fundamental question.

“Then why didn’t I die?”

Because you wished to intervene in fate.

“That’s not what I mean. I’m asking why this happened in the first place.”

It seems someone’s desperate wish was answered.

Someone’s desperate wish had been answered.

It was a vague response.

“You know that’s an ambiguous answer, right?”

But it didn’t really matter.

“Fine. I won’t ask.”

As the daughter of Lee Won-gyu, a genius white-hat hacker, Eunjo calmly accepted the utterly absurd situation she now found herself in.

After all, the very fact that she had entered another person’s body just before dying made no sense. Compared to that, this much ambiguity was hardly worth worrying about.

“I don’t even know whether this is reality or a dream, but if I’ve been told to live, then I’ll live.”

She felt sorry for Na Eunjo, who had chosen to take her own life at such a young age, but for Eunjo herself, this was an opportunity.

An opportunity to take revenge on those who had driven her to her death.

An opportunity to undo her mistakes.

An opportunity to uncover the truth.

“First, I need to return to Troyple.”

She had to go back and recover the evidence she had barely managed to get her hands on. To do that, she was willing to throw even the remnants of her soul into the flames of revenge.

“Is something like that possible, too?”

If she was going to do that, she needed to make better use of this unfamiliar body.

“Can I get Na Eunjo’s memories?”

It is not impossible. Please wait a moment.

After leaving her with those words, the chat window disappeared.

Only then did Eunjo allow herself to look into the distance and take in the unfamiliar place where she had ended up.

She felt nauseated. Far too much had happened in half a day.

She had died and come back to life.

She had entered someone else’s body and witnessed her own body being shattered into pieces and scattered across the ground. And…

“Park Juheon.”

She had met him.

And in this state, of all things.